


The Girl In The Lab

by holtzmann714



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 13:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7893979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holtzmann714/pseuds/holtzmann714
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An origin story of sorts: how Holtzmann and Abby met</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl In The Lab

Abby notices the girl in her physics lecture. She noticed her not because of the tousle of blonde curls that fell out of her ponytail or because of the large welding goggles she wore around her neck but because Abby had never noticed her in class before. She's good with faces and she would have remembered this one.

Abby almost stops her lecture a couple times to ask who she is but doesn't because she's the only one in the hall paying any kind of attention. She's not doodling or checking her phone but paying rapt attention to Abby's every word. After class, she expects the girl to introduce herself but when she looks up after wiping the board clean, the girl is gone.

A couple days later, Abby is bemoaning her sad wonton soup and reading about a site outside of Boston that people claim is haunted, when there's a knock on the lab door. "Come in," Abby calls absent mindedly. She turns to see the blonde girl standing in the door, her eyes widening at the assortment of gadgets on the lab tables. "Hey, it's you!" Abby says before she realizes how that sounds.

The girl looks startled. "What?

"You were in my physics lecture the other day. Are you a late enrollee or something? They never tell me these things."

The girl flushes. "Um, no. Not a student." She hitches her backpack farther up her shoulder and sticks out her hand. "I'm Holtzmann. Jillian Holtzmann."

Abby bites back a James Bond reference because she feels it would pass right over the head of this overalls wearing misfit. (She knows one when she sees one. She was one. So was Erin.) "I'm Abby Yates. If you're not here for class, can I ask why you are here?"

"You just did," Holtzmann shoots her a quick smile. She slings a backpack down from her shoulder and unzips it, producing a well worn copy of Ghosts Of Our Past.

Abby isn't sure what to say. "Oh my god."

"I've read it cover to cover several times. I couldn't find Erin Gilbert but you were slightly easier to track down." Abby is still astounded, slowly catching up to this girl's sudden appearance and apparent devotion. "But-what-where did you come from?"

"MIT. I actually have some questions about things in your book. Is now a good time? Or do you have another class?" Jillian looks at the watch on her wrist. It's an oversized man's watch that normally, Abby would think was special, perhaps an heirloom passed down from a father or grandfather, except in this case, Holtzmann's oversized overalls and large flannel shirt seem to project this simply as her style, not a personal effect. "Do you have time?" she asks again. "I can come back. I mean, if you would rather." Jillian drops her gaze and shifts her weight.

"No, no. Come in. Now is good."

They spend the next several hours talking and Abby still isn't sure why a brilliant engineer is interested in ghost hunting but she knows from Erin, they all have their reasons. Abby nearly misses her five o'clock lab. Holtzmann looks disappointed their conversation is over so soon. "Tell you what. Come help me with the lab."

"Ah, well, I'd rather hang out here if that's okay. If you don't mind me having a look at some of your instruments? I'll be careful, I promise."

Abby doesn't know what makes her trust this girl with her fragile equipment, half of which has failed, but for some reason, she finds herself nodding and saying, "Of course."

When Abby gets back to her office after class, for a moment she thinks Holtzmann left without locking the door--her pet peeve--but she pops up from behind a table. "I fixed this," she immediately says when she spots Abby. "You needed a different cable and I amped it up a little for you too."

Abby still doesn't understand where this girl came from but if she's going to fix lab equipment, she's probably handy to have around.

"Look, I'm really grateful that you want to help but the reason half this stuff doesn't work is because I don't do this anymore."

"Do what?"

"Hunt ghosts."

Holtzmann looks like Abby just kicked her puppy. "What? Why not? You literally wrote a whole book on it."

"People don't believe it. You know how many copies of that book we sold? Four and I'm pretty sure that was all Erin's mom."

"What happened to her? To Erin? Did she break your heart?"

"What? No." In a way, though, Abby knows that's exactly what she did.

"Did she...die?" Holtzmann asks in a quiet whisper, glancing around like Erin might appear in a different form.

"No. Well, I suppose, in a way. She stopped believing."

Holtzmann's gaze lands on Abby and she realizes it's the first time since Holtzmann came through the lab door that that's happened. It's a little unsettling, her blue eyes are very intense and focused but Abby can tell she's trying so desperately to read her, to try and glean an idea of what she should say. "...I'm sorry." The moment of understanding is there but then jerked away just as quickly. "I should go," Holtzmann announces. "I've already taken up too much of your time."

"I didn't mean you had to go. I was just telling you what happened."

"I still should go." Holtzmann slings her backpack over her shoulder and starts for the door.

"Wait, at least tell me how to get in touch with you."

Holtzmann's gaze doesn't meet Abby's as she murmurs, "I don't have a phone."

And like that, she's gone. Abby exhales, feeling terrible.


End file.
